The parts of Corsica that are not cultivated or forested are covered with a thick underbrush called the Maquis. It consists of diverse aromatic herbs that make the hillsides white with little flowers in the spring and inspire one of the island's nicknames, "the Scented Isle." A blend of these herbs, called herbes de maquis, is a flavoring for many seafood specialties, including this rich pasta and lobster dish. Many say that the most flavorful lobsters in the Mediterranean come from the waters off Corsica.
For reasons of food safety, it is essential to make the sauce and finish cooking the lobster immediately after the lobster has been boiled.
Ingredients
Serves 6
Step 1
Chop tomatoes. Bring large pot of water to boil. Add lobsters; boil 2 minutes. Using tongs, transfer lobsters to cutting board. Cut off claws and crack open. Remove meat from claws and cut meat into bite-size pieces. Cut off lobster tails. Cut tails crosswise into 4 pieces each. Cut each lobster body lengthwise in half. Remove coral (bright orange part) and tomalley (greenish part); finely chop.
Step 2
Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add lobster body pieces (not tails or claw meat), onion and garlic; Sauté until onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Add lobster tail pieces, claw meat, coral, tomalley, tomatoes and reserved juices, vinegar, herbs and cayenne; bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer until lobster is cooked through, about 8 minutes.
Step 3
Using slotted spoon, remove lobster tail pieces and claw meat and reserve. Add cream to sauce. Simmer 20 minutes. Using tongs, remove lobster body pieces and discard. Season sauce with salt and pepper.
Step 4
Meanwhile, cook pasta in pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite.
Step 5
Drain pasta and return to pot. Add lobster and sauce and toss to coat. Divide among plates.
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Reviews (42)
Back to TopI've made this several times. Here are my suggestions: Use fewer tomatoes and juice. You can't have too many herbs, garlic, or onions--at least double the herbs. Only add the larger pieces of lobster shell, not the smaller pieces. Don't cut up the lobster meat into bite-size pieces during the first simmer stage--it falls apart and makes it too hard to get out when doing the final simmer with the cream. Instead, cut up the larger pieces before putting back in at the very end. Definitely add some cognac or sherry at the end.
heinrye
New york
1/2/2018
This is a great holiday dish but I use a mix of lobster, crab shrimp and lobster. I also add more garlic, a little lemon and more red pepper flakes. It is always a hit at my house
dutcher
Connecticut
12/24/2016
I make it with shrimp when I don't have lobster -- which is most of the time! It's also really excellent that way. I must have made this 20 times in the last few years. The mint adds a nice little unexpected zing.
depjh
Borrego Springs CA
6/18/2016
Fantastic sauce. I used frozen lobster tails since I'm squeamish about cooking live lobsters. There wasn't much meat in the tails so the lobster portions were very small per person; I'd use live lobsters if I made it again.
cjmedich
Pleasanton, CA
7/5/2013
绝对神圣!所以容易,我酱the day before and added the lobster and fresh herbs to the re-heated sauce the next day while I was boiling the linguine. Definitely add a splash of cognac and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes as other posters have noted -- they plus up the flavor. No muss, no fuss, and you get to spend the evening with your guests -- not in the kitchen.
Anonymous
San Francisco
5/8/2013
Tried tonight for NYEve, using two lobster tails. While tasty, think the tomato and herbs overpowered the lobster meat( I did take the suggestion and added it at the very end). One issue may have been that many Italian style flavored canned tomatoes contain sugar, as mine did, from Whole Foods(365brand). Next time, I would cut back on the tomatoes, and not use the Italian type suggested. The cayenne did not detract from the flavor, but the sweet heavy tomato sauce did.
Anonymous
Milwaukee
12/31/2012
First off, if you cook garlic for 10 minutes it will burn. Cook the onion til translucent, add garlic and cook for another minute. Cant believe I followed the recipe first time and wound up scraping burnt garlic into the sink. I happened to have cooked lobster meat and frozen shrimp shells from another meal. Bundled the shrimp shells in cheesecloth and added with the tomatoes. Squeezed the bundle into a strainer over the pot after the 20 min cook time. Followed the advice of other reviewers and added a splash of cognac with the cream. Yum. My husband and I both enjoyed it but were wishing for a little more heat from the beginning. Got the Cayenne heat around the end of the meal. Will try red pepper flakes or a combo next time. Will also make sure to have bread to soak up the sauce. Its an easy recipe if you start off with lobster meat. I will definitely make it again and continue to tinker.
eileen2817
7/12/2012
我发现这令人失望。尽管广告dition of cognac at the behest of others, I and my guests found this to be pretty bland. Plus, how does the assembly of this make any sense? The fishing expedition to take out the claw and tail meat make no sense. I would do as the prior reviewer did, and just add the meat after you fish out all of the nasty stuff (although I would do it for longer than 5 minutes - I would do 8 or 10).
zepcom
Toronto, Ontario
2/6/2011
Lobsters have been on sale here, so I thought I'd splurge on this for my friends. Everyone cleaned their plate and I thought the lobster flavor came through very nicely. I really loved it. I doubled the recipe and that was fine. The only complication I had was that some of my meat wasn't in large enough chunks to scoop out of the sauce midway through. So I reserved the claw meat and added it about 5 minutes before the sauce was done. I kept the tail meat in their shells so it was easy to scoop out. I fed 8 people (with the double recipe) and had a lot left over for dinner tonight!
jfishma
montreal, canada
5/24/2009
Had to use lobster tails, and I added a pound of very large shrimp. Bottom line: It was amazing! Next time, I will skip the lobster tails entirely. They were a bit chewy and not as delicate as the shrimp. I'm not sure about using fettuccini. I think a thinner pasta would have worked better perhaps. The lobster and pasta were quarreling in the mouth.
cindysphinx
3/1/2009
I made this for Christmas Eve for a party of 25 (with several other dishes) after reading all the rave reviews. I was very disappointed! Maybe it was because I just used lobster tails in shells, but I found this dish really lacked flavor in spite of all the fresh herbs. I also didn't include the mint, but upped the garlic.
niknod
Old Saybrook, CT
1/28/2009
My husband and I loved this! We used smaller pieces of lobster, and next time I will probably use larger pieces and maybe add some shrimp as well. We also lightened it up a bit with just enough half-and-half to give it a creamy taste -- excellent!
Anonymous
Washington DC
12/7/2008
I don't usually give out 4 forks, but this was so quick and delicious. I used shrimp instead of lobster to cut down on time and costs. With shrimp, it is actually an easy weeknight meal. I used fat free half and half instead of the cream to help watch our waistlines before the holidays. It was still wonderful. My fiance practically licked the plate.
Anonymous
Atlanta, GA
11/13/2008
Can anyone suggest wine to pair with this?
blindwino
Seattle
12/22/2007
Forgot; also added the cognac yummy.
Anonymous
Sydney, Australia
11/16/2006
